Ideal Shop size

[John Bailey]

My shop is 20x20 and it is just right for me. That space is dedicated to woodworking. I store my wood outside and have enough storage inside for the project I'm working on. My plans include a future room for finishing and another to hold the cyclone. This still leaves me with my 20x20 workspace.

I know the common wisdom is to build as large as you can. When I built my stand alone shop, I decided the more room, the more clutter and a lot of pack-rattiness. My shop is ideal for me, and I build some pretty large things like the 15' sailboat presently occupying the shop.

John

[Rob Cunningham]

It really depends on the type of work you will be doing.
My shop is a 23'x50' building on my property. This includes an 11' x 14' finishing room and an area for lumber storage. I need to build some storage cabinets to get things organized better but it's plenty of room for a one man shop. With the exception on my drum sander, all of my machines are stationary. I tried to put a lot of thought into the layout so I would have enough working space around each machine without having to move it. I feel very lucky to have this size shop. I started out in 1/2 of the basement in our old house. It was 11' x 17'. I sometimes had to take over the garage to do assembly and finishing.

[Wilbur Pan]

Ideal shop size?

About 4 feet longer than the shop you already have.

Corollary statement: You will need one more 220V circuit than the number that you have installed.

[Deck Reagan]

Wow...where's all the guys with the small shops! I currently work out of the back of my two car garage. I back out the cars to expand the space.

I plan to build a "small" shop in my back yard, hopefully in 2009. I am very used to my small work space and my shop is planned to be very small. The problem with working from the garage is the PITA of moving the cars and clean up. I spend more time cleaning up and moving stuff around and out of the way than I do woodworking. I live in Nebraska with ice and snow. It seems in the fall, winter, and spring I am constantly moping up melted snow, mud, and ice in the garage! In the summer its 100+ in there.

My plan is to build a nice small shop that is climate controlled and doesn't cost a fortune to maintain. I think I'll send a lot more time out there if I know I can just go out and work and when I'm done flip the light off and head into the house with out all the clean up, etc.

Anyway....my future "residential" backyard hobby show is planned to be about 12'x20'.

deck

[Danny Thompson]

20' x 30' for the main shop + 10' x 20' for a finishing room.

[Wilbur Pan]

Wow...where's all the guys with the small shops!

[snip]

Anyway....my future "residential" backyard hobby show is planned to be about 12'x20'.

My basement shop is 11' x 20', if that helps.

[Rick Lucrezi]

I was fortunate enough to have a father who thought enough of me to leave me his business and property when he passed away. (he had a auto shop) I grew up working in it and always thought how much better I could do if it were mine. It was 30x40. I ended up selling the whole lot and bought property in the next town over for cash and had enough to build a dream shop. (property had a little mobile on it.) So I started with a 40 x 60 foot print and 2 story. I shortend it up at the last minute to 40x40. I fiqured I would add the other 20 on later at a single story for a paint booth/finish room. Had all my wood working tools, mechanic tools, welding tools, a jeep project and room to work on cars. It was perfect. Well I forgot to mention that when I bought the place I promised my wife I would build the house within the year. 5 years later with all the extra money gone I realized I would have to borrow money to build the house (not a good idea) get a divorce (worse idea) or convert the shop into a house. Now I have this very nice and very big 2 story house and a 26x26 shop to work in. I have most of my tools in storage building. It works but I was sure spoiled. I recently did 14 2'x4' cabinets for a bedroom I built for some folks over there garage. I had no room to move. I have 3 man doors and a garage door and could only get in and out through one door. So now I am looking at the future shop. Another 2 story, but this time 24x40 with the loft, and 16x40 add ons with a shed roof. Typical barn style. I want to be able to have all my tools in one building again, able to get a car or truck in to work on it, able to seperate the wood working from the metal working (fire hazzard) and have a dedicated spray booth for anything up to a truck. Hey, we all have to have a dream right?

[Rod Sheridan]

Wow...where's all the guys with the small shops! I currently work out of the back of my two car garage. I back out the cars to expand the space.

deck

My shop is in the basement of a townhouse, it's 16' X 14'.

Regards, Rod.

[Eric DeSilva]

This question reminds me of a survey they had once where they asked people what the ideal salary was... Seems everybody thought the ideal was 20% more than they currently made...

20% bigger than my current shop would be about 25 x 30.

[Karl Brogger]

For a hobbiest, and just for wood working, chances are less than 1k sq/ft would be plenty. My shop is about 1500 sq/ft, and for me its a raging pain in the rear. I have to have most everything on a mobile base. Pulling stuff, hooking it up to dust collection, and putting it away for the next step sucks. I've out grown my shop by about a factor of three, my tentative plan, (which constantly changes), is to put up a 52x96 building, and will give me close to 5k sq/ft.

The only piece in my shop that hasn't been rearranged to make room for other stuff, is my planer, and the tablesaw. I look at pics from a few years ago and I had tons of room, now its like working in a phone booth.

Since this picture was taken probably close to 2 years ago I've added 3 shapers, an edge sander, ditched the drum sander for a 37" widebelt, a 5x12 face frame table, a linebore, and another tablesaw. Its packed!

[Dewey Torres]

Karl,
(3) shapers???

Are you production or hobbyist?

[Karl Brogger]

Karl,
(3) shapers???

Are you production or hobbyist?

Tragically I do this for a living. Sorta, pretty slow right now.

[John Keeton]

Exactly 15' wider, and 15' longer than whatever you finally build!!

[Andrew Joiner]

This thread may be of interest: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=72907

Turns out 30'x40' wins the poll. That's 1200 square feet. Exactly what I'll have when I put in my second floor. Finally I'll have the "ideal size" shop!

[M. A. Espinoza]

For a hobbiest, and just for wood working, chances are less than 1k sq/ft would be plenty. My shop is about 1500 sq/ft, and for me its a raging pain in the rear. I have to have most everything on a mobile base. Pulling stuff, hooking it up to dust collection, and putting it away for the next step sucks.

I agree with Karl and others pointing out the hassle of having a "Swiss-Army Shop". I've worked in small, too-small, and adequate home shops and in varying degrees of decent pro shops.

I recommend starting with an empty sheet of graph paper or Sketchup on the computer.

If its only a hobby shop with furniture in mind then I would recommend starting with storage needs of consumables, small tools, and materials. Then account for the footprint of your machinery and the infeed/outfeed requirements. And be sure to plan on an assembly area so you can still use the tools after a project starts to come together. Lastly don't forget you need room to move yourself and parts, allow for at least 36" for passageways around stationary tools. If you can allow for a separate finishing room, do it. Dust collector and compressor outside the exterior walls if possible. Even with all that still put as much as possible on mobile stands.

If you can avoid having to reconfigure your shop for each phase of a project you will be a much happier woodworker, and way more productive. I've experienced the "great little shop" that was great until you started to actually build something, avoid it if you can.

Good luck.